Local program lets Israeli, Palestinian teens look past differences

July 10, 2014|By Brian Cox, Special to the Tribune

Cook County (Tribune illustration)

The conflict between the Israeli military and its Palestinian counterparts in the Middle East is foremost on the mind of Palestinian teenager Taher, who recently arrived on Chicago's North Shore to take part in a program that seeks to help build peace and understanding between the longtime enemies.

"It makes me feel not strong or not free," he said of the conflict and living in the West Bank. "But here I can see Israeli kids and talk to them and send them my message. I can tell them what I can't tell them back in the West Bank."

Taher, 15, is one of more than 20 teens who arrived Monday for an 18-day program called Hands of Peace. It seeks to build bridges of communication by bringing Israeli and Palestinian teenagers together in informal settings where they can talk freely about their experiences back home and forge friendships, said Hands of Peace Executive Director Julie Kanak.

"It's really impossible for them to meet in this format back in their home territory," Kanak said. "There's a separation wall, so there's certainly physical and geographic barriers, but there are national barriers as well."

The Tribune is not using the last names of the teens because Kanak said they could face backlash at home for their participation in the program.

Hands of Peace, founded by Glenview Community Church, has been in place for 11 years, and more than 400 teenagers from the Middle East have taken part. While the simmering conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians is often a backdrop during the program, this is one of the first times the program has taken place when the two sides are actually fighting, said Roy Gordon, a facilitator in the program.

"We were all really concerned," Gordon said. "We were wondering if there was going to be any problems with the young people being able to get out here, but everything has gone well so far."

Each morning the teens meet for two hours and are encouraged to talk freely about their feelings, experiences, prejudices, hopes and dreams.

"Most of these young people have never had a conversation with someone on the other side because their lives are so segregated there," Gordon said. "This is their first opportunity to do that. Pretty quickly they learn that they're all just teenagers and they have a lot more in common than they have separately."

On Tuesday the group had a barbecue at Elder Park in Winnetka followed by a game of softball, a sport many of them had never played before.

But that was not the only "first" for Taher. He said he never met an Israeli until arriving on the North Shore. He also said he hopes he has a chance to talk to his peers about the conflict.

"I want to make change, and I want to have a voice to show to people what Palestine is and what we truly do, who are Palestinians and what we suffer," he said.

The trip also marks the first time that 15-year-old Shachar, who is Jewish and lives in Jerusalem, has met a Palestinian.

"A success for me would be to get to know the Palestinians better and what do they really want, and how they feel about the situation that's going on in Israel," he said. "It's so weird because we're here trying to get to know each other, and back home there's missiles. It's crazy."

Gordon dismissed with a wave of his hand anyone who might express cynicism about the program.

"The other option is to do nothing, and to me that's not an acceptable option," he said. "Something has to be done, and this is what we chose to do. We're giving them an opportunity to learn something about the other side."